Mika, (born Michael Holbrook Penniman Jr. on August 18th 1983) stylized as MIKA is a Lebanese-British singer-songwriter, who is also the recipient of a BRIT Award.
Mika was born in Beirut. He is the third of five children born to a Syrian mother and an American father. He moved to London when he was nine years old. He attended St. Philip’s School in Kensington, where he was the head of the Schola Cantorum (the St. Philip’s Choir). He later attended Westminster School and the Royal College of Music, which he left to record his debut album at Casablanca Records.
A fun fact about Mika is that he is in fact multi lingual, being fluent in French and Spanish. In an interview on September 29th 2009, with The Chris Moyles Show on BBC Radio 1, he commented that he had taken Mandarin Chinese for 9 years but did not speak it very well.
His music career took off in January 2007 when Universal Music released his single “Grace Kelly” for digital download on January 8th 2007. It reached number one the UK Singles Chart on January 21st 2007. His debut album “Life in Cartoon Motion” was released on February 5th 2007, went multi platinum in almost ten countries, and brought comparison with artists such as Freddie Mercury, Scissor Sisters, Elton John, Prince, Robbie Williams and David Bowie. Later that year he toured the United States, with support from Sara Bareilles and Natalia Lesz. The following year, he received a BRIT Award for Best British Breakthrough Artist.
His follow up album “The Boy Who Knew Too Much” released on September 21st 2009, featured the singled “We Are Golden” which peaked at #4 in the UK Singles Chart. “Rain” was the second UK and German single, released on November 23rd 2009. It was the first single to miss the top 40.
“The Origin of Love” was a worthy follow up making it to the top 20 of over ten countries. Mika claimed that the album’s music style would include influences from Daft Punk and Fleetwood Mac.
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